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Shares in N Brown tumbled 10pc in early trade despite the catalogue retailer claiming its turnaround was making progress.
The company, which has spent the past year transitioning to digital sales, reported an 11pc rise in profits in the second half of its year.
However, for the full year, pre-tax profits fell 7.8pc to £72.2m, as a result of “exceptional costs” largely incurred in the first half.
Revenue rose 3.5pc to £866.2m in the year to the end of February.
The FTSE 250 company said the results were in line with expectations.
“It has been a very busy year for N Brown as we continue to transform the way we operate as a fashion retailer – from being mail-order led, to a business that puts digital first,” said chief executive Angela Spindler. “Whilst we face challenging market conditions for the fashion sector overall, and trading since the year end has been subdued, we remain confident in our ability to make further progress this year.”
The Manchester-based company, which employs more than 2,800 people, said two-thirds of sales were now made online.
N Brown owns niche fashion brands including JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo, and has had collaborations with former cricketer Freddie Flintoff and TV presenters Lorraine Kelly and Jameela Jamil.
The company was forced to issue its second profit warning in less than six months last year after it had to slash prices to shift winter stock.


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Last week, the farmers’ market in Brampton opened for the season and although it was an exciting time for many residents, a few small businesses felt differently.
Every year, the City of Brampton blocks off Queen Street during the farmers’ market, but his year, due to COVID-19 protocols, the farmers’ market set up ended up blocking more than just the street.
According to a heartfelt Instagram post from Brampton-based business Macaronz, their store, along with Cristina’s Tortina Shop, Scented Lair and 9 Queen were negatively being affected by this year’s market set up.
“The City of Brampton has blocked off Queen Street during the farmers’ market, which for the past eight years that we have been at our location, has never been blocked off for this,” stated the post.
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“Is this really another challenge on top of COVID that we have to endure? Can there be a better plan than this so our customers can get to all of us than just blocking off Queen Street for no good reason due to unthoughtful and possibly rushed planning?”
The post concluded by stating, “The farmers’ market runs until the fall and Saturdays are our busiest days. This will certainly affect all of us when we have worked so hard to adjust to COVID and make things run as smoothly as we can for all of our customers.”
Mayor Patrick Brown took to Instagram to respond to the post.
“I am sure the City can make some adjustments. We only want to help downtown businesses, not hurt them,” said Brown in the comment section of the post, encouraging the owner of Macaronz to call him.
Today (July 3), Brown told Khaled Iwamura from inbrampton that they were able to “accommodate the concerns” that Macaronz had.
“We had to spread it [the farmers’ market] out more because of COVID than it was in previous years,” said Brown.
“In previous years, she was near the start of the farmers’ market but not in the farmers’ market,” he said, adding that this year, the queue line would have been in front of her business.
Brown concluded by stating that the farmers’ market will no longer be closed off in front of Macaronz.
Photo courtesy of Macaronz on Instagram

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"Unedited Footage of a Bear" parody video shows the perils of allergy medicine side effects as a horror film. Next time, read the small print.
Showcased today at its developers conference, Flow hopes to smooth over device continuity and is Samsung's answer to Apple's Handoff.
Using eight flexible legs and a soft web, a robotic octopus can scull through the water like its cephalopod inspiration.
Soggy swimsuits may be history if these trunks get a Kickstart. Their nanotech secret sauce is supposed to never wash out.
If you spotted Studio Diip's Fish on Wheels in February and lamented the fact that you couldn't go out and buy one, now's your chance to make it happen.
The 4G phone runs Sailfish OS, which started life as MeeGo -- software that was briefly considered the future of Nokia.
Sling TV is a new $20 per month live TV package with 12 channels, including ESPN, TNT, CNN, HGTV and the Disney Channel. How does it work, how can you get it -- and will it let you quit cable?
How do your clothes go from filthy to grunge free? Through the chemistry of laundry detergent. In the latest installment of our Appliance Science column, we look at the chemistry of clean clothes.
Dish's Sling TV stole the show with its $20 alternative TV package, but PlayStation Vue is coming soon, Netflix is certifying TVs and just about everybody is streaming. Here are the big home video trends of CES 2015.
Targeting millennials and people who don't want a full pay-TV package, Dish offers up a cheap live TV service that's viewable on a variety of streaming video devices and includes ESPN, Disney Channel, and CNN.


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Next time you visit at drive-thru at McDonald's, your order will be taken by a computer!
The fast food chain is now testing out a voice-driven program that is similar to Alexa or Siri in drive-thru lanes to help speed up service. That means the voice you hear when you place your order might not be a real person. McDonald's has been focusing on reducing drive-thru time for customers especially with their surge of drive-thru traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Do you think this will help speed up the process?


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From the time the Council of Ministers issued a decision to raise the capacity of inbound passengers to Kuwait to 10,000 people per day, the air transport market has witnessed a steady rise in the price of tickets in the face of limited seats and a big demand to return to the country.
The head of the Federation of Tourism and Travel Offices, Muhammad Al-Mutairi, told Al-Qabas the prices of one-way tickets to Kuwait from three destinations India, the UAE and the Philippines have increased five-fold because the capacity of arrivals per day remain the same.
Al-Mutairi stated the prices of tickets from these three destinations range between 300 and 400 dinars, especially those coming from India and the Philippines who mostly domestic workers. The price rise has placed another burden on the shoulders of citizens.
Al-Mutairi has called for the abolition of travel restrictions, saying, “Unfortunately, we are the first to implement the restrictions, and we will be the last to lift them,” and renewed his call to open the airport to full operational capacity, similar to the neighboring countries, since the government had promised to do so once the vaccination rate reaches 80%.


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LONDON (Reuters) – Rapid action is needed to update how cross-border financial services are scrutinised and consumers protected as the sector becomes digitalised with “Big Tech” playing an increased role, European Union regulators said on Monday.
People are using smartphones to buy and sell shares, move money around bank accounts and make payments, a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving regulators playing catch-up.
“Digital finance has unlocked new synergies between financial and non-financial activities that potentially introduce systemic risk into the market for financial services,” a joint report from the EU’s banking, insurance and markets watchdogs said.
Cloud computing, or banks and other financial firms using outsourced providers for services, is booming, the report said.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Toby Chopra)


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“Deselect” continued in Audi
The head of Audi, was taken into custody — Rupert Stadler was detained in Germany in the case of the so-called “disilicate”. The company Volkswagen, which is part of the Audi, was accused of falsifying data about the level of emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. With details — Alexander Kozlova and Yana Lubnina.
German carmaker Volkswagen was at the center of oil in 2015. Then it turned out that several million diesel vehicles worldwide were equipped with the software which during testing is ten times lower amount of harmful gases emitted into the air. Hidden devices then was discovered and in the line of Audi A3.
When the CEO of Audi, Rupert Stadler told Audi A3 40 TFSI, it was called the tough competition one of the reasons for the emergence of this model: “When it comes to digital developments, you must always be ahead of everyone. This is a game with very strict rules. We all feel strong competition, and Mercedes is not the only opponent. We began a highly productive program that will take its place in the market.”
NewsWhy Europe suddenly fell out of love with diesels (and what happens instead)
Opaque, it was also found in the filling of more than 1 million cars of the brand Skoda, and several hundred thousand car SEAT.
Due to “desligada” the Volkswagen group has already paid about $30 billion of fines. Hundreds of thousands of owners in Europe and the United States returned to their cars concern because of the harmful emissions. Thus, only in the States, Volkswagen bought about 350 thousand cars, which took more than $7 billion.


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Monetizing on free music or radio streaming services has always been a tricky point with consumers and the services themselves. While of course people would want to choose the free version over a paid one, the trick is to offer
Android Auto is still a relatively new platform that Google is exploring, but their recent announcement that apps can now run on compatible cars that are synced with devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop is opening up some doors.
While listening to terrestrial radio may already be a thing of the past (or a hipster retro hobby), radio itself has reinvented itself into podcasts, video podcasts that is still easily consumable by customers and subscribers.
TuneIn Radio saw a decent update earlier in the month. That last update brought some new social features, as well as a new look and feel. Another update for TuneIn Radio has recently arrived in the Play Store, though this one
The TuneIn app has recently been updated. This latest update deals with the regular (free) version of TuneIn as well as the paid Pro version. Users will immediately notice a new look and feel both in terms of the app icon and the


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Each week, HC compiles hot news to know in our Trends of the Week feature.
HC Chicago Hot List.
If visiting a “chandelier-filled jungle” is high on your bucket list, look no further — Beatnik (1604 W Chicago Ave.) has you covered. This plant-filled restaurant and cocktail bar is open now in West Town.It’s football season, and if you’re like us and want to relive your college glory days every weekend, check out this collective guide to Chicago’s best college football bars. Chicago, the City of Comedy, will soon have an exciting new addition. On October 20, visit New York City in your own backyard (River North, that is) with SNL: The Experience. The exhibit will pay tribute to the long-running comedy show inside the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
Watch out, Netflix and Amazon, Facebook is planning something big. Facebook announced a plan to spend $1 billion on original television shows in 2018. For those who enjoy Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black” and Amazon’s “Transparent,” Facebook plans on creating new original content that rivals these hit shows on its new video platform “Watch.” While $1 billion is less than what its competitors spend on original content each year, the funds could go a long way if allocated appropriately. Earlier this year, Apple broke similar news. The company also plans to spend upwards of $1 billion on original television shows. It looks like the future is full of binge-watching.
Campaigns We Love.
Bumble is known for changing the rules of online dating, and its latest promotion is no different. On three busy intersections in New York City, a branded truck called “The Great Catch” served free catfish dishes to passersby to promote the app’s photo verification feature. This new Bumble feature uses facial recognition to authenticate users and eliminate catfishing, so people form connections with real people. Bumble’s food truck served catfish tacos, sliders, and squash salads, and all dishes were created by Chef Sam Talbot from Bravo’s Top Chef.
Quote of the Week.
Arts & Entertainment.
With Halloween fast-approaching and clown creepiness at an all-time high, it seems all too perfect that the new adaption of Steven King’s IT blew up the box office with unprecedented vigor. The nightmarish clown, who uses fear to fuel his terror, made Hollywood’s dreams come true with $123 million in its opening weekend. IT landed just shy of Beauty and the Beast in biggest openings this year, and crushed revenue numbers for movies debuting in September and R-rated films. Evidently, after Hollywood’s worst summer in the box office, it just needed IT.


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Totallee is now shipping its signature-style ultra thin cases for all the new iPhones including the iPhone 12 Mini, 12, 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Totallee has been making iPhone cases since 2013 and has become a leader in offering super thin cases that offer everyday protection without adding bulk. All of its cases are thin, pocket-friendly and completely branding free.
Totallee’s cases are available in 5 different colors and 2 different styles: matte and transparent. Head below for a look at the whole collection.
The post Totallee launches super thin cases for iPhone 12/Mini and iPhone 12 Pro/Pro Max appeared first on 9to5Mac.


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The Boston Valley 2015 Sales Meeting Brings Our Team to Buffalo
Boston Valley Terra Cotta held our annual sales meeting Sept. 30 – Oct. 2 in our hometown of Buffalo, NY. Bringing together our sales force from across the globe for a few days always proves to be a worthwhile venture. With a schedule full of strategy meetings and presentations, factory tours, dinners and awards, the team had a chance this year to tour downtown Buffalo and check out some of our city’s architectural gems first-hand.
Boston Valley’s International Sales Manager, noted that, “It is always great to get all our people together and give them an opportunity to meet, share experiences and see what is new at Boston Valley.”


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Analysts: Peak Car To Arrive By 2020s
After a century of motoring, and with several factors rapidly changing the landscape, analysts are forecasting the peak of global automotive growth to come sometime in the 2020s.
The Detroit News reports that as more people join the exodus out of suburbia into major cities, along with other factors such as pollution, gridlock, build quality and the adoption of alternative modes of transportation — particularly among younger generations who cannot afford a car of their own — auto sales around the globe will peak somewhere around 100 million in the next decade, according to several analysts such as IHS Automotive.
Further, 44 percent of Americans surveyed by Intel said they would prefer to live in big cities with driverless cars able to keep traffic flowing smoothly, while one out of 10 households have no car at all.
The coming upheaval is prompting automakers to consider their place in the new scene, where red barchetta owners outrun silver bubble cars, and where car ownership gives way to car sharing. Tim Ryan, vice chairman of markets and strategy for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, puts the future of motoring into perspective:
The key question is: Do you sell cars or do you sell mobility? If you ignore these megatrends, you run the risk of becoming irrelevant.
With an expected 25 percent to 50 percent increase urban dwelling over the next decade, and 9 billion expected to live in urban areas 25 years from now, the groundwork is being prepared to meet this coming challenge. Gartner Inc. auto analyst Thilo Koslowski predicts urbanites to use ride- and car-sharing services such as Lyft and Car2Go to commute to their destination, with autonomous cars picking up their passengers, and using GPS and other communication technologies to deliver them safely.
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You gotta keep a firm grasp on the obvious. All this requires is a little data and analytical competency in long division. How many people live in the USA and Canada? How many motor vehicles are currently in service there? How many people live in Western Europe? How many motor vehicles are currently in service there? How many people live in China? How many motor vehicles are currently in service there? How many people live in India? How many motor vehicles are currently in service there? How many people live in Africa? How many motor vehicles are currently in service there? Motor vehicle production may or may not be in the process of peaking in USA, Canada and Western Europe. It is certainly a mature industry in these areas. That said, anyone who seriously expects a global production peak in the 2020's is a bit deficient in the gray matter department.
I think this makes sense and is a good thing. Most people's commutes are bumper to bumper traffic... i.e. the least enjoyable type of driving out there. Commuting could be handled by adaptive public transportation pushing deeper into the suburbs. Longer but boring trips could be handled by more luxurious cars than folks might want to buy and own. And manufacturers could focus on enthusiast entries for folks who want to do their own driving. Not to mention it would get drunk, distracted and old drivers off the road, making things that much safer without forcing anything on anyone else. It's all good to me and totally realistic.


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Photo Credit: Max Deitch/BFA
SUNO designers Max Osterweis and Erin Beatty hosted a star-studded soiree to present its Fall 2016 collection in L.A.
Guests at the Tuesday night fete included Emma Roberts, Gabrielle Union, Jessica Parй, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Monaghan, Rashia Jones, Tracee Ellis Ross and Zoe Lister Jones.
Additional tastemakers, stylists and Angelenos on hand included Cameron Richardson, Camille Lowry, Kate Greer, Kate Sumner, Kidada Jones, filmmakers Lex Sidon and Louis Leterrier, Margot and Mia Moretti, Mickey Sumner and stylists Anita Patrickson, Brad Goreski, Brit Elkin, Caley Rinker, Ilaria Urbinati, Jason Bolden, Negar Ali, Petra Flannery and Tara Swennen.
In lieu of a post-show celebration during New York Fashion Week, SUNO again opted to host an intimate dinner in Los Angeles last night at the home of The A-List founder Ashlee Margolis.
This time around, SUNO fans showed up in full force and were the first to wear its Fall 2016 collection—which doesn’t hit stores until August—straight off the runway.
NARS, an official sponsor of SUNO, was also on hand to celebrate while another friend of the brand, The Spare Room Offsite, provided a bartender to serve beverages from Original New York Seltzer, Patron Spirits and Sofia Wine.
The SUNO Fall 2016 collection explores the idea of subversion and tradition, using fabrics and silhouettes that feel at once both familiar and new, pretty and off-kilter. SUNO is available at more than 70 retailers worldwide, was a 2011 and 2012 finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, a 2012 nominee and 2013 winner of the CFDA Swarovski Award for Womenswear and a 2014 LVMH Prize finalist.
It was important that the brand show their west coast presence. Said Osterweis, “LA is really a second home to us both” with Beatty adding, “It is so quintessentially SUNO—people here aren’t afraid of color or print.”
SUNO CELEBRATES IN LA 1
SUNO CELEBRATES IN LA 2
SUNO CELEBRATES IN LA 3
SUNO CELEBRATES IN LA 4
SUNO CELEBRATES IN LA 5


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QR codes beat out direct mail in driving response: report
QR codes are spurring consumers to take action with response rates that are higher than other direct marketing tactics, according to a new report from Nellymoser.
The report, "Scan Response Rates in National Magazines," found that readers of national magazines scan QR codes, Microsoft Tags, digital watermarks and other mobile action codes at an average rate of 6.4 percent. The report also found that mobile users are actively engaged and view an average of 18.9 mobile pages.
?The big news is that QR style mobile codes in magazines get higher response rates than other printed direct marketing tools,? said Roger Matus, executive vice president at Nellymoser Inc., Arlington, MA.
?We never knew this before because this is the first time anyone has been able to measure the complete impact of printed mobile codes from the initial scan to the delivery of the mobile experience,? he said.
The number of QR codes and other mobile action codes appearing on print ads in magazines has been steadily growing. A recent report from Nellymoser found that approximately 10 percent of magazine advertising pages contained a QR code or other activation mechanism in the second quarter of 2012, up from 5 percent a year ago.
The codes are being adopted by brands as a way to easily link readers to content such as video, a sweepstakes, a social media page or an ecommerce site.
This latest report from Nellymoser is the first to measure the response rate for the mobile action codes appearing in magazines.
Per the report, the median response rate using mobile action codes was 4.5 percent to 5.9 percent and the average 6.4 percent. In comparison, the average response rate for direct mail is 4.4 percent, according to the Direct Marketing Association, and the average response rate for a catalog is 4.3 percent.
Key findings from the report include that the total number of scannable codes has the strongest impact on response rates, with more codes raising visibility and interest in the codes.
The report also found that codes promoted with the promise of a discount, coupon or chance to enter a sweepstakes have a higher response rate.
Additionally, magazines that repeat a program in multiple issues get higher response rates over time than those who run a campaign just once.
While the study does not address why mobile action codes have a strong response rate, this could be because they enable a targeted audience to connect with related content they are interested in.
?Magazines are very effective at reaching highly targeted group,? Mr. Matus said. ?Sports Illustrated reaches sports fans while Martha Stewart Weddings and Brides reach a specific group.
?Therefore, the campaigns in magazines can deliver specific mobile experiences that enhance the reading experience for the target audience - thus bringing up response rates,? he said.
The report also points to the fact that readers who peruse a magazine with a mobile device in hand are actively engaged, with users of Nellymoser's companion app keeping the app open approximately 10 minutes during each visit, opening it an average of 2.4 times and viewing 18.9 mobile pages during that time.
The report is based campaigns over a 12-month period delivered through Nellymoser's Companion App, which enables users to scan and engage with action codes in print magazines.
The results suggest that marketers should be considering adding QR codes or another mobile action code to their print campaigns when looking to drive a specific action.
?When done well, mobile action codes can turn a print advertising campaign into a direct marketing tool with a higher than average response rate,? Mr. Matus said. ?It ought to be considered whenever a direct response campaign is being used.
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York


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Philip Morris International shows iQOS e-cigarettes that heat cigarette sticks but do not burn them.
Fabrico Flini | AFP | Getty Images
CNBC learned that Philip Morris International met with the Food and Drug Administration on Friday afternoon to discuss why tobacco giants and Altria should be allowed to import and sell Iqos devices in the United States.
A person familiar with the company’s conference told the FDA that Philip Morris was unique in both its design and its ability to change smokers. In addition, the company claims that the U.S. International Trade Commission has exceeded that limit given the FDA’s responsibility to regulate which tobacco products and alternatives it can sell, the person said. ..
The meeting with regulators is the latest development in a patent dispute with rival RJ Reynolds, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco. In late September, the ITC ruled that the Iqos device infringed two Reynolds patents. The Biden administration will conduct a 60-day administrative review until November 29 to decide whether to ban the sale and import of alternative tobacco.
Altria launched the Iqos device in the United States two years ago, but began developing the product more than a decade ago, before Philip Morris International spun off from the company. This device heats cigarettes without burning them. It aims to give the user the same nicotine rush without using as much toxins as smoking.
Philip Morris has sold the device in dozens of international markets and has licensed Altria to sell in the United States. Iqos does not make up the majority of Altria’s US operations, but it is part of a shift away from traditional tobacco products. There was a decline in demand.
The US Trade Representative will make recommendations to President Joe Biden after hearing from many agencies, including the FDA, which regulates tobacco products.
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Philip Morris International’s head of the United States, Deepak Mishra, said, “The president’s review process could disapprove the ITC’s final decision in some respects, which is quite significant. I believe there are strong cases. “
The company’s claim to continue selling Iqos includes the public health benefits of the device. Altria has counted 20,000 US consumers as device users and said they could return to cigarettes if Iqos disappeared from the shelves.
“We are pretty confident that the majority will return to smoking cigarettes,” Mishra said. “… it’s actually getting closer to the taste and ritual of tobacco, which is why we have a very strong shift in smokers to switch to Iqos.”
Mr Mishra said this was a discussion the company would hold to urge the Biden administration to overturn the ITC’s decision.
The next step in the administrative review is likely to be a trade policy staff meeting this week, said a person familiar with the meeting. This group includes a number of federal agencies, including the FDA, USDA, and Commerce.
If the executives take part in the RJ Reynolds dispute, Mishra said Icos could be off the US shelf for months to wait with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a decision on another claim with Reynolds. The process is expected to take another 6-12 months, but Mishra said the company is more optimistic about the results given its success in similar cases outside the United States. British American Tobacco has already filed similar proceedings against Philip Morris in 11 international markets and the European Patent Office.
In the worst-case scenario of Altria and Philip Morris, both companies need to go back to the blueprints and move production to the United States or change the design enough to avoid patent infringement claims.
Reynolds American spokesman Kelan Holon said when the ITC ruled in favor, “Our intellectual property infringement undermines our ability to invest and innovate, thereby resulting in the health of our business. Reduce the impact on. ” “Therefore, we firmly protect IP around the world.”
Philip Morris shares rose 12% this year to a market value of $ 145 billion. Altria’s share price has risen 9% at the same time, with a market value of $ 83.1 billion.
Philip Morris International meets with FDA to claim Iqos in patent dispute
Source link Philip Morris International meets with FDA to claim Iqos in patent dispute


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Kylie Jenner Cosmetics suspends production. American media personality and business entrepreneur, Kylie Jenner has halted the production of her cosmetic line. The 22-year old reality star has revealed that she is to suspend all production of her cosmetic collections in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
This is a follow up Kylie’s half-sister Kim Kardashian West who has also ceased all production of her own KKW Beauty. Jenner who launched Kyle Cosmetics back in 2016 said her company will not be fulfilling any orders for the foreseeable future.
The Californian beauty who is estimated to worth over a $1 billion dollars took to her social media to announce the news. Writing on her Instagram business account, Jenner told fans that due to the current health orders in California, her fulfilment centre will remain closed temporarily.
However, people will still be able to place orders on-line as her website still will still remain active. She told clients that her fulfilment depot will not be able to guarantee specific delivery dates at this time.
Kylie Cosmetics will endeavour to prioritise all orders for delivery when shipping reconvenes. She said “For any orders placed on or after 16th March 2020, our refund policy has been updated to allow our customers to cancel unshipped orders at any time for a full refund. The customer service team will be reaching out via email to every customer who purchased on or after March 16 over the coming days.”
It’s not all bad news for Jenner fans as her skincare company, Kylie Skin will still continue operate and ship orders. This is due to her fulfilment centre still be permitted to remain open on the condition that her employees follow strict health and safety guidelines.
In her own media statement she told fans that Kylie Skin will continue to ship orders for the foreseeable future.
Kylie Jenner Cosmetics suspends production


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China became the world's largest country in goods trade in 2013. However, it has come first place only in a single area, while the United States is still the world's largest importer and service trader, and in terms of science and technology, education and industrial development as well as human resources, China still lags far behind. It appears that China's comprehensive strength will continue to rank second in the world for a long time to come.
However, as a rapidly growing large nation, China has contributed 11.8 percent to global exports and 10.3 percent to imports, and this is set to rise even further. Every action China makes is affecting the world. Since China is now undeniably a major economy in the world, its foreign trade is facing unprecedented challenges.
Space for growth
Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the world's economic growth has slowed down, demand expansion has weakened, supplies of industrial products have become excessive and international competition has intensified. "Made-in-China" can be seen everywhere in the consumer product market, indicating that Chinese goods have gained a formidable market share. In the meantime, with a rapidly growing national wage level and continual appreciation of the yuan, the low cost advantages previously boasted by Chinese companies are weakening. Within the existing industrial development level and export structure, China has been faced with a market size "ceiling," and it will be increasingly difficult for China to maintain high growth.
In the past three decades, China received transfer of industrial production from more advanced countries and regions, gaining market shares from its trade partners. The international competition China faced was not so fierce. But now, Chinese companies have started to enter some high-end industries and production links, which is considered a threat by developed countries such as the United States, and they are becoming less and less willing to give up their market share. Instead, they have adopted various measures to restrict expansion of Chinese exporters. On the other hand, other developing countries are also learning from China and seizing China's market shares with lower production costs.
In the past three decades, most of the products made by foreign-invested companies in China were sold to the international market, and domestic companies made more money from exports than they did from domestic sale. But now, as external demand shrinks, China has become a market that companies from all over the world covet. When entering China, foreign companies aim at this 1.3-billion-strong market, and some export-oriented Chinese companies are similarly transferring their focus to domestic sales. Changes in the supply and demand in domestic and international markets have brought challenges for China in expanding development spaces for foreign trade and promoting economic growth.
Sino-U.S. trade ties
More and more "made-in-China" products are replacing their "made-in-U.S." counterparts and more and more Chinese companies are entering industries and markets that had previously been U.S.-dominated, which will inevitably touch on the traditional interests of the United States. In the meantime, China and some developing countries are trying to break through the international trade rules championed by the United States and establish a more reasonable and fair international economic order, the need for which the United States is not willing to recognize.
There are some people from both countries who have not yet dispensed with their "Cold War mentality." While dealing with trade disputes, they are not well versed in communication and mutual respect and cannot seek common ground while maintaining their individual reservations regarding related issues.
As the largest developing and developed countries in the world, respectively, China and the United States have many common interests and extensive fields in which they may cooperate. The two countries are complementary to each other in terms of economic and industrial structure. One side needs the assistance and cooperation of the other in solving structural imbalance, and they also need to engage in mutual understanding, cooperation and support when dealing with a series of global economic and trade issues. The two countries are both responsible for promoting common development.
Over the past three decades since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China-U.S. trade volume has soared 180-fold, bringing real benefits to the economic growth of both countries. Most U.S. multinational corporations have investments or businesses in China. This fact indicates that China and the United States will benefit from cooperation but suffer from confrontation, and sound and sustainable economic and trade relations are in keeping with the fundamental interests of the two countries.


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PETA's Protests Nintendo's Cow-Milking 1-2-Switch Mini Game
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) posted a letter on its official Facebook page criticizing Nintendo's 1-2-Switch Milk mini game on March 30. The group has previously drawn attention to Nintendo properties like Super Mario 3D Land and parodied the battles in the Pokemon franchise to point a finger at McDonald's fast food.
The letter from group president Ingrid Newkirk states that the mini game takes out "all the cruelty out of milking" and asks the company for realism.
Nintendo has responded to the Pokemon campaigns in the past, leading the group to state its flash games were "tongue-in-cheek."
The challenges in 1-2-Switch include: Baby, Wizard, Telephone, Soda, Shaver, Runway, Liar Dice, Sword Fight, Joy-Con Rotation, Quick Draw, Milk, Beach Flag, Eating Contest, Count Balls, Shinken Shiraha-tori (Real Naked Sword Catching), Ping Pong, Safe Cracker, Copy Dance.
[Via Brian at Nintendo Everything]
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history


text: Today is the start of the forever anticipated London Fashion Week, where designers ranging from Jasper Conran to Paul Smith will be showcasing their collections for Spring/Summer 2014. The interesting thing about New York Fashion Week last week was the creativity shown not just through the collections themselves, but in how the show was put together. From the lighting, the music, the place and the runway itself, designers are putting a lot of effort into making these elements work together with the designs to make the whole collection come alive. After seeing the sandy runway presented in the Tommy Hilfiger show in New York Fashion Week last week, I’m excited to see what London Fashion Week will offer over the next few days. To view the full schedule, visit www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/schedule_ss14.aspx and follow @LondonFashionWK on Twitter for the latest updates!


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Apple Blames iPod Virus on Windows
In another example of how mobile gadgets can carry malicious programs, Apple
Computer Inc. said a fraction of its iPod players sold in the past month contained
a virus that affects Windows systems.
The problem affected less than 1 percent of the video iPods that were available
for purchase after Sept. 12, according to a posting on Apple's technical support
Web site. The company has received less than 25 reports concerning the problem,
The iPods got the virus from a Windows computer at one of its manufacturing
plants, Apple said. The virus, RavMonE.exe, is known to spread through external
data storage devices when they are connected to computers and affects only machines
running the Windows operating system from Apple rival Microsoft Corp. Security
experts say the virus opens up further security holes for hackers.
Up-to-date anti-virus software included with most Windows computers should
detect and remove it, Apple said.
Though the iPods themselves are not affected, nor are Apple's Mac OS computers,
Apple recommended that iPod owners use its latest iTunes program to remove the
virus from their new devices.
Other iPod models were not affected and all video iPods now shipping are virus-free,
the company said.
"As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy
against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it,"
the company stated.


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Home furnishings retailer Heilig-Meyers Co. says it will close three stores in Greater Sacramento as part of a restructuring under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Heilig-Meyers of Richmond, Va. (NYSE: HMY) announced the voluntary Chapter 11 filing Wednesday.
The company says it will shut 302 stores, including 81 in California. It will seek court approval to sell off the stores' inventory in liquidation sales in the next one to two months.
The company plans to keep operating, and has received a commitment for $215 million in financing from a group of lenders led by Fleet Retail Finance Inc.
"The action we took today is critical to establishing a more realistic capital structure and a stronger competitive future for Heilig-Meyers," said Donald S. Shaffer, president and CEO since July 21, in a statement.
Heilig-Meyers is the nation's largest retailer of home furnishings and related items.


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DETROIT, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC, which is owned by Fiat SpA, on Wednesday said its revenue would rise 11 percent to about $80 billion in 2014. The American automaker that went through bankruptcy in 2009 and came out managed by Fiat, is now fully owned by the Italian company, which reported fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday below expectations of analysts. Chrysler's fourth-quarter net income of $1.62 billion, up 329 percent from the previous year, included a $962 million ...
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After LG announced the F-Series – Optimus F7 and Optimus F5 – in February 2013, days ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013, the Optimus F% may become available to a sho near you.
The new LG Optimus F5 mid-range smartphone will be released in France first on April 29th, with South and Central America, Asia and Eastern Europe receiving the phone over “the next several weeks”.
According to a press release written by the company, “The Optimus F Series is a new family of Android smartphones for consumers who are ready to experience the blazing speeds of 4G LTE without the high costs that normally go with such a device. As a key component of LG’s strategy to make 4G smartphones as ubiquitous as they are fast, the Optimus F5 features LG’s advanced LTE technology and enhanced user experience (UX) features.”
LG hopes to make LTE devices more accessible with this new line of devices. The Optimus F5 features advanced LTE technology along with an enhanced user experience.
The 126.04 x 64.46 x 9.30mm Optimus F5 includes the latest Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2 operating system and the best of LG’s innovative and exclusive UX features:
- QSlide allows users to open multiple apps at the same time in full screen mode with the ability to change the size, position and transparency of the windows.
- Live Zooming lets users zoom in on videos so they can get a closer, detailed look at any specific area.
- Video Wiz lets users play movie director by giving them the power to edit videos and enhance them with sound and music right on the phone itself.
- QTranslator function instantly translates not only words, but also entire sentences and phrases by simply using the camera to scan the text. QTranslator accepts 44 different languages and can translate them into any one of 64 languages.
Other features include the Qualcomm 1.2 GHz Dual-Core processr along with 1 GB RAM, 4.3-inch IPS (256 ppi) dispay, a 5.0 MP AF Front and 1.3 MP Rear cameras and 8 GB internal memory with a 32GB microSD.
“LG has consistently set the standard in the mobile industry with technology that complements, not complicates, users’ lives,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “The Optimus F5 is a natural extension of LG’s lineup of strong LTE devices, offering the lightning-speed of 4G LTE and UX features of a premium phone. With the Optimus F5, we’re confident we can capture an untapped market of new and upgrading smartphone users who crave a feature-rich, LTE device.”
The pricing of this mid-range smartphone is still being kept under wraps. At this stage it is difficult to ascertain the exact date for its India launch, or the expected price.


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With August coming to a close, we can see how the rates have compared to last year.
In August 2022, the average price per square foot was $1.78. While this past month, for August 2023, the average price per square foot had dropped to $1.48 per square foot. This was an 17% decrease year over year.
However, the average price per square foot in August 2019 was $1.34 making the percentage change from 2019 to 2023 a 10.6% increase.
Pros and Cons of Single-Story vs. Multi-Story Self-Storage Development
When embarking on the journey of self-storage facility development, one of the key decisions you'll face is whether to build a single-story or a vertical (multi-story) facility.


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Visitors gather around hair dryers manufactured by Japanese company Panasonic at the import expo on Tuesday. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily]
Japanese companies expect to find success with their high-tech products during the China International Import Expo, as demand in China grows and bilateral ties between the countries deepen, Japanese exhibitors said.
AGC Group, a glass and industrial ceramics maker, is aiming to build its reputation among Chinese consumers and looks forward to cooperation in a wider range of areas with Chinese companies after the inaugural import expo.
Toshihiro Ueda, chief representative in China for AGC Group, said that in recent months his attention has centered solely on the expo.
"Since AGC started doing business with China, we have witnessed China turn from the world's mega manufacturing powerhouse into the world's biggest market," he said, adding that his company's strategy in China is clear and simple－to grow with the country's development.
"This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up, and the 40th anniversary of the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty. The bilateral relationship is on the right track, with reform and opening-up entering a new phase. What President Xi Jinping said in regard to further opening up has pumped our morale," Ueda said.
"AGC's products are mainly used in automobiles, televisions and mobile phones, for which China is the world's biggest market. There are millions of consumers who are going through consumption upgrades," he said.
Ueda has clear goals for his next step in China: increase the company's market share in glass used in automobiles; consolidate its leading position in electronics; and increase its presence in the life sciences, while looking for deeper cooperation with China.
In addition to his sales plan, he said he has another mission: to present the most authentic image of China－how it really looks and its pace of development－to AGC's headquarters in Japan.
"We are trying to get the people on the top floor to come to China so they can make the right decisions," he said.
Hironobu Taketomi, president of Fujifilm (China) Investment, also anticipated the unprecedented growth and changes in the market as he wished to tap the Chinese market in healthcare and materials.
"We have two goals in China," he said. "One is to discover the latest demand in the market so we can make a research and development plan accordingly, and the other is to find ideal local partners to team with."
In an interview with Xinhua, Yoshihiko Isozaki, head of the Japanese delegation, said Japan valued the Chinese market highly. As a market with a population of more than 1.3 billion people, China presents a huge opportunity for Japanese industry. He singled out cosmetics products, which he said he believed could meet the demand from Chinese females.


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Winner of the 2018 award for Excellence in the Management of Technology, category for small enterprises
Our adjudicator Jayesh Reddy shares with us his experience of how Air Blow Fans effectively manage their technology
Fan specialists take the risk up front and blow competitors away
A small company facing stiff competition from major multinationals has to do things differently, especially in a niche market where a competitive edge can quickly vanish into thin air.
Air Blow Fans have carved out a nice slice of the African industrial fans business for itself in the past 15 years, but it knows better than to settle into a comfort zone. In fact, there’s nothing like taking risk upfront to keep an enterprise on its toes, says Gavin Ratner, its managing member.
“We go out to the site, find out what the problem is and do
the investigation for free,” he says. “This really means putting our money
where our mouth is, and clients appreciate it that we take the risk upfront.”
The Kempton Park-based company’s clients are usually mining
houses, power plants and manufacturers that use industrial-strength fans for
ventilation and can ill afford the production downtime that goes with faulty or
poorly functioning fans.
Their problems typically revolve around fans that someone
else supplied and installed, so Air Blow Fan’s arrival is a breath of fresh
air; it has a talent for fixing legacy problems.
While the fan concerned might not be brand new, Air Blow
Fans’ approach is stat-of-the-art.
“We are continually improving our skills and solutions, and
are very strong on the engineering side,” says Gavin. Air Blow Fans – which won
no fewer than five tt100 awards in 2018 – has invested heavily in engineering
software for analysis, design and systems monitoring, and is one of a handful
of small South African companies with ISO 9001:2015 accreditation.
It should not come as a complete surprise that
the company is also a fan of the TIPS™ framework. “What I like about TIPS is the way
it ties everything together,” Gavin says. “There is no one component of
business you can focus on in isolation. You have to look at all of it. That’s
what TIPS helps you to do.”
Winner of the Excellence in the Management of Innovation award for 2018, the category for large enterprises.
Click on the clip for a summary of our energetic adjudicator Marlize Schwar on the phenomenal ways that SVA Holding manages innovation. SVA Holding is the 2018 tt100 large enterprise excellence in Management of Innovation category winner
the future of risk with 99% accuracy
notoriously difficult to make and there aren’t too many companies confident
enough in their forecasting abilities to claim a near-perfect accuracy rate. A
rare exception is SVA Holdings, an asset protection and risk management company
with a track record of being right 99% of the time when forecasting its
clients’ risk problems – months and even years ahead.
“For instance, we can
predict non-compliance issues in a retailer’s stock-take two and a half years
in advance. It’s been tried and tested, with 99% accuracy,” says Derick Deyzel,
chief commercial officer at SVA Holdings.
However, clients need
not wait for any length of time to see the benefits of implementing the
improvements SVA suggests when it detects risk or compliance loopholes in their
systems or processes, from the supply chain to health and safety. “We feed back
to clients in real time so that they are able to make quick decisions about
their risk profiles,” says Derick. “We are constantly hunting to improve
gets it right
The uncanny accuracy
of SVA’s risk-related forecasting is rooted firmly in its Infoman technology
platform, developed in South Africa and patented in 43 countries.
It all starts with
gathering the client’s operational data 24 hours a day and feeding this into
the SVA platform, where it is weighted, rated, prioritised and escalated
according to the client’s risk profile, all in real time and without getting in
the client’s way.
“Infoman tells us
when there is a challenge, where it is, who needs to fix it and when this can
be achieved,” says Derick. “Our competitors may offer comprehensive audits but
they are largely based on historical information. We bring current and more
relevant information, right now.”
The benefit of
real-time analysis is that the client can take immediate action to correct any
non-compliance. If the driver of a logistics company, for instance, deviates
from the approved route, Infoman will pick this up while it is happening and
alert the client, who can deal with this straight away instead of after the
will pick it up immediately if one branch of a 300-store retail chain is
neglecting to do the required daily count of high-value items such as TV sets
What SVA’s technology
also does extremely well is to adjust and align with the client’s risk policies
and procedures as these evolve. “It changes and improves so that it’s as
relevant to the business in five years’ time as it is today,” Derick says.
What likely also
impressed the tt100 adjudicators about SVA Holdings’ management of innovation
capabilities is that its technology is as relevant to small enterprises as it
is to large ones. “The technology platform works just as well with a company of
five vans as it does with a national retailer with 300 to 400 outlets,” he
Perhaps it’s time to
make a bold prediction: this won’t be the last time that SVA Holdings comes up
with innovative technology that changes the face of risk management.
Winner of the Excellence in the Management of Innovation award for 2018, category for medium enterprises
Click on the clip below for a synopsis by our dynamic adjudicator Marlize Schwar on the exceptional ways that Accsys manages innovation.
Keeping payroll relevant in the Gig economy
As the Gig economy grows, who knows
what the future holds for corporate payrolls. As more and more people do gigs
rather than full-time jobs, who will pay them – payroll or the accounts
department? Come to think of it, will large corporates and their payroll
departments even exist in the virtual era of nimble newcomers?
These are some of the questions
about the future that Accsys’s leadership team are keeping in their sights
while dealing with today’s dilemmas – of which there are plenty.
When it comes to innovation, for
instance, the following catch-22 comes to mind, says CEO Teryl Schroenn:
“As an IT company, we have got to
be innovative, which means we have got to take risks – and then we have risk.
So how do we innovate while maintaining stability and limiting risk to our
Consider that some of Accsys’s
clients have upwards of 25 000 people on their payrolls and operate right
across Sub-Saharan Africa, from South Africa to Senegal, and it’s clear that
finding the balance between innovation and stability is a real business
In fact, it’s one that Accsys,
which has clients doing business in 19 African countries, is tackling right
“We are busy with a massive update
that we have been preparing for since last October,” says Teryl. “We are always
our own guinea pigs, so we started testing the update in our own payroll. After
two months, we ran it live on two client sites and now we are starting with
some of our bigger clients.”
It sounds so simple but it’s
actually not: with clients operating in 19 countries, the update has to
accommodate 19 different national tax frameworks, not to mention a host of
other country-specific salary and employment details.
This update not only caters for
clients’ current payroll requirements but is part of the evolution towards a
digital future that is unfolding as we speak. “Innovation means making sure you
have a product that people can use now and that works, while also being mindful
of how things are changing and the impact of digital on payroll,” says Teryl.
Talking of change, what does she
think the future holds for large corporates and their payrolls?
“I think people and companies are like countries,” she says. “Some want to be their own country, like Catalan or Scotland, and some want to be centralised, like Russia. In business, there are different models too: some companies want to be small and agile, and some want to be huge. “But one thing is for sure: whatever the future holds, SARS is still going to want their tax.
Winner of the 2018 award for Excellence in the Management of Innovation, the category for small enterprises
Click on the clip for a synopsis by our expert adjudicator Mark Fuller on the dynamic way in which Cura Risk Management manages innovation in their organisation.
How to outperform your peers in a listless economy
In today’s grim economic climate, revenue growth of over 60% is an unimaginable feat for most South African companies. “If you innovate constantly, you can outperform the market, despite the economy. Maybe we would have done even better if the economy had been up to speed,” says Alex Roberts, Regional Director: Sales and Operations of Cura Risk Management.
That level of growth in 2018 might be understandable in a
start-up coming off a small revenue base, but Cura is an established company
with a 16-year track record, not a start-up. So how has its South African
business unit managed to buck the trend of flat sales and sluggish growth?
A contributing factor is the nature of its business. Being
in the business of providing Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) software solutions,
Cura is in the right place at the right time. “South African companies are
getting a lot more pressure for good governance and we are in that space,” says
But that would only be part of the story – and a small part
at that. The real secret behind Cura Risk Management’s success is its mastery
of innovation. Take its ability to service customers at both ends of the
market, from small to large, as well as everything in between.
“Competitors generally focus on one end of the market or the
other,” says Ross Saunders, Director for Global Technology Services. “We service
both ends, from corporations that require very complex nuances to small clients
that want enterprise-grade software in a hosted environment.”
In the past, enterprise-grade software would have been out
of the reach of most small enterprises but Cura has bridged the gap. “With
SMEs, affordability is the problem and historically, they would only have been
able to afford a lesser product. Now, because our product set is unique and we
use different business models, we can offer small clients a solution similar to
something a massive financial services company would use, yet focused to their
own needs,” says Alex.
As for large companies – Cura’s traditional market – they
too are under pressure to up their Governance, Risk and Compliance game, and
tend to be receptive to Cura-style innovation. Its business model for large
enterprises is integrated and built on a single source of the truth, he says. “We
combine risk management, business continuity, internal audit, SHEQ, incident management,
IT risk management, etc, all as a single, fully integrated solution.”
This differentiation, along with a technology platform that
is constantly evolving, underpins the kind of growth that many South African
companies can only dream of. If you innovate, you can grow.
Winner of the Excellence in the Management of Innovation award for 2018, category for Emerging Enterprise
Our adjudicator Marizanne Burger shares with us their experience of Air Blow Fans
Fashion in SA is a
whole new ball game
The local textile is in tatters thanks to cheap imports and
fashion designers are struggling but some are fighting back – and keeping their
sense of humour while they’re at it.
“It’s a whole new ball game,” says Roman of ROMAN HANDT, avant-garde
fashion scientists and textile artisans. This is the tongue-in-cheek slogan for
“Romandies” (pronounced “Rom-undies”), a sleek and comfortable line of men’s
underwear that boxers, cyclists and other sportsmen are snapping up.
It was Romandies in particular that caught the attention of
the tt100 adjudicators. ROMAN HANDT
manufactures them in-house, which is unusual for a small design and textile
house because underwear is difficult to produce, requiring elastication and
various other complicated processes and machinery.
But if you get it right, underwear can be a money spinner.
“Men’s underwear has shown the most growth (in the clothing industry) and they
are reckoning that the market is worth billions,” says Roman, adding that
modern men are “quite happy” to pay for really snug, comfy, aesthetically
“We pay a lot of attention to fit and the cup part of
Romandies sits very snugly so that men never sit on or hurt anything. It really
is a whole new ball game.”
The brand has significant market potential in South Africa,
not to mention profit potential for its originators. In South Africa, the clothing
market is all about price, and underwear is one of the few clothing products
that can be sold with a decent mark-up, says Roman.
“When you produce the product
in-house, you cut out the middleman and can be very competitive in the market.
And with underwear, there is a no return policy!”
To reap the benefits, though, in-house manufacturers need to
invest in the right technology – something that emerging and small enterprises
are often reluctant to do.
“The only way you can compete is by investing in technology,”
says Roman, adding that this need not break a business’s budget. “If you invest
time in doing your research, you can pick up quite inexpensive machines by
going to auctions.”
Once you have the right equipment to manufacture underwear,
it can be used for many other types of garments too, opening up all kind of
future possibilities, not just for the individual entrepreneur but for the
“I want to teach younger generations, entrepreneurs in their
twenties, that if you have a sewing machine and a product, there is a way to be
an entrepreneur and support your family,” says Roman. “Work for yourself –
that’s what I want to show people.”
Winner of the Excellence in the Management of People award for 2017, category for Medium Enterprises
People management: no end in sight
Never be lulled into thinking that your people management practices are as good as they can get. No matter how well they have worked up to now, and how hard you have worked at them, something will invariably come along and upset the apple cart.
“There is never a situation where we can say we’ve arrived. There is always something that needs fixing. People management is about constant fixing,” says Teryl Schroenn, CEO of Accsys, payroll and people management specialists.
Accsys won its first tt100 award for excellence in people management in 2007 and has since won the title several more times, including in 2016 and 2017.
Part of its strength is understanding that excellent people management is a constantly moving target.
Accsys experienced this for itself in late 2017 when Transaction Capital acquired the company from BCX and Telkom, says Teryl. “This caused huge upheaval and a lot of uncertainty among our staff.”
Communication was both the solution and the problem. “No matter how well you communicate, if people have their own particular viewpoint, they do not hear you,” she says.
“This was a huge learning curve for us. We found that doing all the correct things wasn’t enough. We have had to dive deep to make sure we are all on the same page and that the same message filters down and all the way through.”
One change introduced with this in mind is to require every manager to hold formal one-on-one meetings with everyone reporting to them, once a month.
“One-on-ones are critical if you really want to talk to people,” says Teryl. “The moment you lose the connection, they feel disconnected. The employee surveys we have done show that more than anything, people want to be appreciated and seen to be an important part of the company’s success.”
Another recent change has been the up and coming introduction of “Let’s talk” sessions, linked to a revitalised suggestion box system. “People put their suggestions – which can be anonymous – into the suggestion box and then we will sit down and discuss them at a Let’s talk meeting.”
Teryl emphasises that good people management is “about reacting to change as well as being proactive. You have to do both. And you have to be ruthlessly honest with yourself when things are not going well and accept that things do not always go the way you had planned. Then you’ve got to address the issues and fix them.”
Winner of the Management of People award for 2017, category for small enterprises
The art of balance and bringing out the best in people
Everything in life is said to be about balance and for X/procure® Software, managing people means walking a fine line of a particular kind. On the one hand, there must be sufficient structure to provide leadership and direction; on the other, the company’s culture should be quirky enough to allow for some fun and individuality.
Relaxed yet organised. Hardworking yet playful. Open yet coordinated. These contrasts sit comfortably side by side at X/procure®, whose electronic procurement software is used by well over 60% of South African pharmacies to purchase pharmaceutical, surgical and front-shop products.
“Being serious when it matters, and more relaxed when appropriate, works well for us, enabling us to work seamlessly while enjoying our working environment,” says managing director Corne Korb.
Serious people management matters include performance management, training and development, succession planning, the annual climate survey for employees and induction for new recruits.
“We might be a small company of 35 people, but we pay as much attention to people development as much bigger companies do,” says Corne. “When our people are skilled, motivated and fulfilled, the results show up in our relationships with our customers.”
Succession planning is a big deal at X/procure®, which is part of Primedia Unlimited, and all key senior staff members are part of a mentorship programme to groom the next generation of leaders. “We believe in skills transfer and promoting from within,” says Corne, who is himself a product of the company’s grow-your-own timber approach, having started out as a computer technician and worked his way up.
Other crucial people management elements at X/procure® are employee wellness, which includes healthcare screening, the annual climate survey for employees and the strong focus on training and development. “For four weeks every quarter, different divisions attend training on a one-day-a-week basis, linked to their personal development plans and key performance indicators.”
The lighter side of life at X/procure® is its custom of celebrating successes, birthdays and memorable milestones – and its appreciation of good jokes. Humour can be an excellent way to break the ice and take some of the pain out of stressful situations such as job interviews, says Corne.
“For me, interviewing someone for a position isn’t just about asking them the difficult questions but also getting to know the real person, which is easier when they are relaxed rather than all tensed up. For me, it’s all about bringing out the best in people. That’s the essence of our culture.”
Winner of the Department of Science and Technology Director-General Award for Overall Excellence, category for small enterprises
When you put people first, excellence follows, says hearX
When government announced a few years ago that all school learners must be screened for hearing and vision loss in grades 1, 4 and 8, Professor De Wet Swanepoel knew this was an impossible task for South Africa’s approximately 600 audiologists.
Something would have to be done very differently, he realised, and an idea began germinating.
De Wet, who is part of the University of Pretoria’s Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology department, took his idea to a computer engineering colleague, Dr Herman Myburgh. Together, they built the world’s first clinical smartphone hearing test solution.
Knowing they needed the expertise to commercialise their invention, De Wet and Herman knocked on the door of serial entrepreneur and start-up investor Nic Klopper, who has founded seven businesses.
The result of this teamwork was the hearX Group, founded in 2015 with the vision, “healthy hearing for everyone, everywhere”.
hearX has already made a pretty good start with that. In less than three years, the business’s solutions have screened over 150 000 people, many of them in far-flung rural districts.
“From the beginning, our focus has been on bettering the lives of people. We are first and foremost a social impact company, screening for the masses,” says Tanya Boretti, hearX Marketing Manager. “We truly want to have an impact by making hearing care affordable and accessible.”
Putting its money where its mouth is, hearX has built a series of smart digital health solutions that are about 50% cheaper than conventional audiology tests and can reach many more people.
Says Tanya: “It all started with our founders wanting to solve a problem and coming up with an idea that would make a real impact. That sparked an entire business and has disrupted an entire industry. Excellence happens when you put people first.”
Winner of the Excellence in the Management of Innovation award for 2017, category for small enterprises
Hear how hearX has disrupted hearing screening
If there is one industry that has been desperate for disruption, it’s audiology, which deals with hearing and hearing loss. Until the hearX Group came along and disrupted the market, the industry hadn’t experienced much disruption before.
“We come out of an industry that was very traditional and almost stagnant. It was one of the least disrupted industries over the past decade,” says Tanya Boretti, Marketing Manager at hearX, a proudly South African company that is turning the audiology industry on its head.
Traditionally, to test someone’s hearing, the person would have to sit in an audiometric booth wearing headphones attached to a machine called an audiometer while an audiologist conducted hearing tests.
hearX has compressed all of this bulky equipment into hearScreen, a streamlined medical device consisting simply of a calibrated smartphone and headset. Apart from being just as reliable and accurate as a traditional audiometer, hearScreen has all kinds of advantages that conventional systems lack.
For one, it’s significantly more affordable. “Our solution is almost 50% cheaper than the traditional audiometer,” says Tanya.
Second, the hearX device is lightweight and portable – so instead of patients having to travel to clinics or hospitals to have their hearing screened, hearScreen can go to them. That’s critical considering government’s integrated health programme, which requires that all learners in grades 1, 4 and 8 be tested for vision and hearing loss.
“There are only 600 registered audiologists in South Africa and millions of schoolchildren,” says Tanya. “No way can the conventional model of screening ever reach all children at schools.”
hearScreen neatly overcomes the skills gap: it was built for the layperson and the person using it for screening need not be an audiologist.
In fact, hearX trains community members in areas around schools to use the device. “So we create jobs too,” Tanya says, adding: “There is no manual data capturing. The device does that. Once collected, the data is uploaded to a cloud-based management portal, encrypted and protected.”
If the screening results pick up any hearing loss, hearX hands the case over to an audiologist who does the intervention care.
Since 2015 when HearX was registered, hearScreen, which is patented and trademarked and ISO 13485 certified, has screened over 150 000 people across 25 countries. As Tanya puts it: “That speaks volumes about the power and reach of innovative technology.”
I Am Emerge, winner of Innovation Concepts in the category for emerging enterprises
App puts bulk buying power into township enterprises’ hands
Spaza shops do business worth around R9 billion a year and are the backbone of township economies but they face a relentless daily battle for survival. Typically, they lack access to credit, are vulnerable to crime and cannot compete on price with the big retailers unless they cut their margins to the limit. As for the discounts that bigger businesses routinely negotiate with suppliers, spaza shops simply don’t have the bargaining power.
Well, individually they don’t. Collectively, they are a force to be reckoned with, says Brian Makwaiba, MD of I Am Emerge, mass marketing specialists with a talent for bringing emerging enterprises and big businesses together.
Its award-winning Vuleka app taps into the collective buying power of township spaza shop owners, enabling them to order goods directly from the manufacturers and benefit from the discounts that go with bulk buying.
I Am Emerge does the legwork, including negotiating with the manufacturers, warehousing the goods that spaza shops order and delivering their purchases to their doorsteps.
“The goods are cheaper than they would be from wholesalers, so we save them time and money,” says Brian. “Where there are spaza shops who don’t have technology, we have youth marketers to take their orders manually.”
At this stage, I am Emerge’s network of spaza shops with bulk buying power spans three of Gauteng’s biggest townships: Alexandra, with around 500 members, Soweto with over 4 500 and Tembisa with around 2 000.
Vuleka is currently under redevelopment, the aim being to simplify it considerably, says Brian, who was a Gauteng Premier Excellence Award winner in 2017 and was named among South Africa’s top 50 entrepreneurs and Africa’s top 15 in 2016. “We’ve gone back to the drawing board because our users said our solution was too complicated. It had lists and a lot happening, when all users want is a catalogue-type app with pictures and prices.”
This is the essence of doing good business in townships, he says. “It’s about going on the ground and listening to your customers and delivering a product that speaks to their needs. For me, that’s the key to innovation.”
Winner of the Management of Innovation award for 2017, category for medium enterprises
Project overruns need not be the norm
Project overruns are notoriously common in South Africa, where power stations and high-speed trains have been built at significantly higher cost and over longer timeframes than originally planned. But it’s not just in South Africa that infrastructure and construction projects often drag out and cost more. Globally, overruns in costs and time range from 27% to 200%, according to Steven Golding of SSG Consulting.
“The software used is obviously ineffective,” says Steven, a mechanical engineer (and triathlete) who, after observing time and cost overruns on virtually every project he encountered in his 20 years in the construction industry, decided to do something about it.
He founded Pretoria-based SSG Consulting in 2008 – smack-bang in the middle of the global financial crisis – and started developing KEY360.
In a nutshell, KEY360 is a cloud-based and web-enabled platform for managing large-scale projects, on time and within budget, which it does by neatly integrating 140 different business systems and processes, with unlimited global access, data validation and real-time reporting.
It wasn’t long before SSG Consulting was doing well enough to move out of Steven’s Land Rover (“That’s where I started”) into proper offices and later into a Pretoria East property that is also a horse farm.
“We do things very differently from the norm,” he says. “Ever since we started out as an organisation, innovation has been part of what we do. We have a passion for developing new stuff and for helping organisations to develop their own innovation programmes.
“Although we started in project management as a core business, and this indeed still is, KEY360 has so many Enterprise functions that we now service many other industries.”
Recent innovations include the KEY360 app, called KEY30 10X, which provides mobile access to the KEY360 platform from a phone or iPad and speeds up business processes by 10 times. “We have the data to prove it,” Steven says.
He adds that it’s “easy” to innovate in an industry such as project management, precisely because there are so many problems to deal with.
One surprising aspect of SSG Consulting’s approach to innovation is that patenting innovations such as KEY360 and the KEY360 app are not priorities. Steven’s explanation is simple: “We’re not worried about anybody being able to do what we do. Our approach to challenges and to the required tech solutions is so unique and often subtle that it is not necessary to patent – thousands of ideas and innovations are built into the system. We are fundamentally different.”


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Elon Musk And SpaceX Launching Dogecoin Funded Moon Mission In 2022
Elon Musk has announced that his private spaceflight company SpaceX will now accept the meme-inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin as payment to launch the “DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon” in the first quarter of 2022.
SpaceX launching satellite Doge-1 to the moon next year— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2021
– Mission paid for in Doge
– 1st crypto in space
– 1st meme in space
To the mooooonnn!!https://t.co/xXfjGZVeUW
This comes even as the token crashed over 30 per cent, wiping out $30 billion of Dogecoin’s market value, after Musk the “Dogefather,” said that the cryptocurrency was a “hustle” during a segment of his "Saturday Night Live" debut.
Elon Musk is the highest profile supporter of the digital currency, which was founded in 2013 as a joke on social media. That goofy meme holds quite a value today--it’s the world's fourth-biggest cryptocurrency--thanks to the technology billionaire who has been pushing up the price of the cryptocurrency in the past few months with his tweets.
According to cryptocurrency data tracker CoinGecko.com, its price has soared by more than 800 per cent over the last month, with its total market value rising above $70 billion.
Doge enthusiasts like to talk about sending Dogecoin’s value “to the Moon”--a catchphrase that’s intended to drive the value of the cryptocurrency to one dollar. Last month, Musk tweeted that SpaceX was going to put a "literal Dogecoin on the literal moon".
SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2021
Dogecoin flies to moon
Geometric Energy Corporation announced the dogecoin-funded mission on Sunday and said that it will collaborate with SpaceX to launch a 40kg miniature satellite called a cubesat on a Falcon 9 lunar payload mission early next year.
The payload will obtain lunar-spatial intelligence from sensors and cameras on-board with integrated communications and computational systems.
"This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce", SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero said in a statement.
Earlier in February, Elon Musk, the ‘Technoking’ of Tesla, announced that the electric car maker company has bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and would accept the cryptocurrency as payment for its vehicles.
Last month, Tesla reported its seventh consecutive quarter of “profits” and generated $101 million in income from the sale of 10 per cent of its bitcoin holdings--also helping the world’s largest cryptocurrency (by market cap) recover from a five-day slump.
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Start a conversation, not a fire. Post with kindness.


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New York, Indiana Attorneys General to FDA: Overhaul Supplement RegulationsNew York, Indiana Attorneys General to FDA: Overhaul Supplement Regulations
In a letter Tuesday, the state law-enforcements officials urged FDA to act swiftly on a recent petition that requested the agency subject ingredient suppliers to cGMPs (current good manufacturing practices).
June 2, 2015
Citing “grave public concern," attorneys general in New York and Indiana recently urged FDA to reform federal oversight of the dietary supplement industry and step up enforcement.
In a May 26 letter to FDA Acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff that was made public today, New York and Indiana law-enforcement officials called for improvements in cGMPs (current good manufacturing practices) that govern the U.S. supplement industry.
The cGMPs neither cover ingredients suppliers nor require that supplement companies verify through testing that products are free of common allergens, according to the letter. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller also raised concerns that supplement manufacturers are granted discretion in using their own tests to confirm claims on labels, according to the letter. Finally, the state law-enforcement officials argued some terms on supplement labels such as “extract" and “natural" are ambiguous.
“There’s no need to wait for Congressional action to drastically improve federal oversight of the dietary supplement industry," Schneiderman said in a statement. “The FDA has the authority to rewrite the rules that govern the multibillion-dollar dietary supplement industry today. The health and safety of the tens of millions of Americans who take supplements every single day will continue to be jeopardized until these lax regulations are improved. I urge the FDA to use every tool at its disposal to protect consumers in New York and across the country from the unnecessary risk of tainted supplements."
Asked for a comment on the letter Tuesday, FDA spokeswoman Marianna Naum said the agency “will respond directly to the attorney generals." Ostroff, M.D., has been acting commissioner since March, and he oversees an agency that has been rotating supplement directors for more than a year.
The supplement industry has come under increasing scrutiny since Schneiderman revealed in early February that DNA tests found a number of herbal supplements failed to contain the listed herbs and were tainted with fillers and contaminants. While herbal experts lambasted his testing methodology as unreliable, New York’s top law-enforcement official has not relented in his criticism of the industry. He has expanded his probe, other state attorneys general have joined him, and a bombardment of negative media publicity has increasingly questioned whether supplements are adequately governed to ensure their safety and authenticity.
“It’s disappointing that the Attorney General from New York is spending his time acting as if there is a public health problem in the dietary supplement world instead of being honest with consumers about what he really found in his tests and about being transparent in the industry by [releasing the tests]," said Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), in a phone interview.
Letters that Schneiderman’s office sent to national retailers whose products were tested revealed the “results were all over the map, and yet, he chose to take enforcement action using unreliable data," Mister added.
Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., executive director and CEO of the Natural Products Association (NPA), said his association looked forward to educating Schneiderman’s office further on the various obligations governing the supplement industry under the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act.
“We still have educating to do," he said in a phone interview. “We look forward to the dialogue … and getting some things straight."
While the relationship between the supplement industry and Schneiderman’s office has been rocky at times due to his allegations of mislabeling and expanding investigation, efforts are underway to work together.
Last month, Fabricant and Schneiderman issued a joint statement in which the men looked “forward to jointly working with major manufacturers and retailers of herbal supplements to promote a model for product safety, authenticity, and transparency in this industry."
GMPs and Ingredient Suppliers
In the letter to FDA, Schneiderman and Zoeller cited a number of problems in the supplement industry. “The quality control and safety issues facing the dietary supplements industry are a matter of grave public concern," the attorneys general wrote. “Scientists and consumer advocates have repeatedly discovered dangerous natural and synthetic compounds, including powerful stimulants, anabolic steroids and prescription drugs, in commercially available dietary supplements."
The eight-year-old cGMPs, found in 21 C.F.R. Part 111, are intended to protect the public health and ensure the labeled ingredients match what’s actually contained in the bottles.
A number of supplement manufacturers, including smaller and medium-sized companies, have struggled to meet the regulations. As Natural Products INSIDER reported in March, of the 483 inspections in fiscal year 2014 (FY14), 62 percent or 298 resulted in the issuance of an FDA document that alleged noncompliance with cGMPs. Nearly one in five facilities that received a Form 483, or 58 inspections, purportedly failed to verify the identity of a dietary ingredient prior to use through a test or examination, reflecting the most common infraction cited by FDA inspectors, the data showed.
The attorneys general in Indiana and New York urged FDA to act swiftly on a recent petition that requested the agency subject ingredient suppliers to the cGMPs.
“Excluding suppliers from existing regulations is all the more concerning given that manufacturers typically receive ingredients as unrecognizable vats of powder, analytical testing at this stage cannot adequately detect frauds, and the ingredient suppliers are often overseas and beyond the reach of effective enforcement actions," Schneiderman and Zoeller wrote to Ostroff.
In 2007, FDA decided to refrain from subjecting ingredient suppliers to the cGMPs. The agency concluded the final regulations include “adequate controls" governing “the use of dietary ingredients used by the manufacturer of a dietary supplement."
Since the regulations were adopted, Mister said manufacturers of finished products have informally imposed many requirements on their vendors, which has caused ingredient suppliers “to step up their game." More importantly, Mister said, regulations that are being adopted under the four-year-old Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) are creating additional requirements on all food ingredient suppliers, including supplement vendors.
“This call to FDA to rewrite 111 totally ignores what has happened with FSMA," he said.
Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), expressed support to bolster enforcement of FDA supplement regulations.
"But AHPA does not believe there would be any increased product quality or benefit to consumers to require ingredient companies to comply with the dietary supplement cGMP rule at this late date," McGuffin said in an emailed statement.
McGuffin explained that cGMP and preventive controls regulations will be issued later this year under FSMA, affecting all domestic and international suppliers of food and food ingredients.
The regulations “will be more than adequate to ensure the accurate identity and quality of all food ingredients, including those used in supplements," McGuffin said.
The Organic & Natural Health Association (ONHA) is a recently formed trade organization that met with Schneiderman’s office and submitted the petition last month to subject ingredient suppliers to supplement cGMPs. It claimed FDA’s current regulations are inadequate.
“Under the existing regulations, dietary ingredient suppliers have no regulatory obligation to manufacture or hold dietary ingredients in accordance with the specific production and process controls that are necessary to ensure finished product quality," Todd Harrison, counsel to ONHA and the organization’s president, wrote in the petition, “and absent contractual obligations, dietary supplement manufacturers and consumers have no recourse against such suppliers that fail to manufacture quality product."
ONHA announced plans to submit the petition to FDA after meeting with Schneiderman’s office in April.
Fabricant is the former director of FDA’s Division of Dietary Supplement Programs. He pointed out it wouldn’t make sense to subject ingredient suppliers to certain cGMPs. For example, he noted it wouldn’t be necessary to establish a specification for the strength of a raw agricultural commodity if it is being processed into an extract at a manufacturing facility.
“Those are things that are really done at the manufacturing level," Fabricant said, “as they should be."
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Smithfield Foods, Inc. launched a new interactive website designed to communicate with consumers seeking more knowledge about the food they eat while also seeking to foster a deeper, more timely dialogue along with up-to-date information about the company’s related corporate social responsibility activities.
Designed to serve as a one-stop-shop for answering consumer questions and tracking data on specific sustainability programs, including the company's scorecard on environmental performance, animal care, food safety and quality, community involvement and employee health and safety, the website marks “an important step in elevating our commitment to accountability and transparency," said C. Larry Pope, president/CEO of Smithfield Foods.
As a sustainability leader in the food industry, the company has surpassed many of its fiscal-2016 CSR goals by Q2 2011:
-- Outperforming OSHA benchmarks for the meatpacking industry with a 4.66 injury rate -- 32.5 percent below the industry average.
-- Delivering 8.4 million servings of protein to food insecure families, compared to 1 million servings last year.
-- Food safety goals were met across the board, including zero recalls.
-- Achieving zero Notices of Violation (NOVs) at more than 90 percent of its facilities.
"Over the past decade, sustainability has taken hold at every level of our company, from our corporate offices to the farms. This new site will provide an opportunity to listen and respond more quickly, while offering more in-depth information on the actions behind our words," Pope added.
Smithfield Foods is a $12 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company’s most popular brands include Farmland, Smithfield, Eckrich, Armour and John Morrell.


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VRFocus reports on the developer of The Order: 1886 confirming that it is working on something 'specifically' for virtual reality (VR) technology.
These guys are trying to do big things and leave the bad taste of The Order behind them. it'll be interesting to see what they come up with next, especially for VR.
The Order 1886 itself would be great as a VR experience for Morpheus.
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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SUPPORTERS came from all corners of the state to vie for the 92 rams offered by the McBernie family of Weealla Merino stud, Balladooran.
Overall, 97 per cent of the rams were sold to an average of $1658, which is a growth of $259 on last year's result.
In the breakdown, all 60 Poll Merino rams sold to a top of $4000 and average of $1843, up $343 on last year, and 29 of 32 Merino rams sold to a top of $2600 and average of $1276, up $309 on last year.
The $4000 top-priced poll ram was a son of Weealla's Orrie Cowie sire. Growing a 19.3-micron fleece with a 3.1-micron standard deviation (SD), a 16.1 per cent co-efficient of variation (CV), 99.7pc comfort factor (CF), 39 millimetres eye muscle depth (EMD) and a fat depth of 6mm, he was purchased by Garry and Penny Glencross, Gollan.
"He has a nice feel, and great softness, it is our type of wool," Mr Glencross said.
"We have been buying from Weealla for years."
The $2600 high-selling Merino ram was a son of Glendonald 3.43, measuring 20.3 micron, 2.9 micron SD, 14.3pc CV, 99.6pc CF, 38mm EMD and 5mm fat depth.
Purchased by Brendan O'Connor, Coonamble, he was selected for his overall size.
"He has great carcase attributes and he has the longest staple and really white wool." Mr O'Connor said.
"I saw this ram on display at the Dubbo National Ram sales and liked him from there. These rams do a really good job, and they are realistically priced."
Auctioneer Brad Wilson, Nutrien Dubbo, said the sale was "very solid". "There was interest from interstate and a lot of new local buyers keen on the Weealla program." Mr Wilson said.
Weealla co-principal Stuart McBernie was very pleased with the way the sale was solid throughout.
"Our averages are way up on last year with the confidence in the season," Mr McBernie said.
"Stock prices are up there, people who have been feeding sheep have now been rewarded,
"We have a few new buyers who purchased a number of rams along with the long term buyers,
The sale was conducted by Elders and Nutrien.


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Wholesalers of consumer goods such as imported garments and shoes in Yanggang Province are upset because market vendors cannot keep up with their payments, Daily NK has learned.
“The wholesalers who supply clothes and shoes to Hyesan marketplaces have been in serious trouble recently. Vendors at the marketplaces are unable to collect the goods they sold on credit, and the situation is so bleak that they have no idea when the money will come,” a source in the province told Daily NK on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the source, goods such as Chinese-made clothing and shoes were easier to find this year than in previous years at marketplaces in Hyesan and other towns along the province’s border with China. But North Koreans’ financial woes are keeping them from buying much, hurting not only the market vendors but also the wholesalers who supply the vendors with their goods.
“There are a lot of Chinese products available in the marketplaces right now, but there are fewer customers because of the financial difficulties. As a result, many vendors go all day without selling a single item,” the source said.
Under these circumstances, market vendors are forced to sell items on credit, leaving them with no cash to pay wholesalers.
Worse, wholesalers are not receiving payment for goods shipped inland, leaving some wondering if they would be better off not doing business at all, the source said.
One wholesaler who imported goods from China in January was so stressed after two months of no payment from vendors who took his goods on credit that he fainted.
“Vendors in the marketplace are in tears over their poor sales, and when wholesalers press them for money, the sellers can only offer to return their products. The vendors say life isn’t worth living if they have to be harassed for money after not selling anything all week,” the source said.
The growing availability of products may make it seem like the marketplaces are bustling, but that is far from the reality, the source said.
“When ordinary people are facing such financial hardship that they are struggling to put food on the table, vendors of consumer goods can do little but stare at the products stacked on their tables,” the source said.
“The basic issue of hunger has to be addressed if people are going to buy clothes and shoes in the marketplace. Since they can’t afford to do that right now, both the market vendors and the wholesalers who supply them are in a world of hurt.”
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons. For more information about Daily NK’s network of reporting partners and information-gathering activities, please visit our FAQ page here.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to email@example.com.
March 13, 2024 at 05:30AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)


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‘Binnen 15 jaar rijdt iedereen elektrisch’
13 juli 2016 – Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Group) voorspelde deze week dat ‘binnen vijftien jaar iedere auto op de weg elektrisch zal zijn’. Hij deed de voorspelling in Londen tijdens het Formule E Championship (waaraan ook een elektrisch raceteam van Virgin meedoet).
Uit een bericht van Edie.net
‘(…) Branson’s prediction of a global EV portfolio differs from recent studies. The global EV market almost doubled in 2015 as sales reached 1.3m, according to Germany-based renewables industry analyst ZSW. While this represents a 68% jump in new registrations from 2014, [IEA] figures suggest that EVs account for just 0.1% of global car numbers.
But EV market shares appear to have a promising future. Sales look set to skyrocket over the next 25 years, with Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) predicting that the 1.3 million figure could reach more than 40 million – accounting for 35% of all car sales by 2040.
Moves are already being made in the industry to account for this transition. The past few months has seen the likes of Honda – which has pledged to electrify two-thirds of its portfolio – and General Motors – which has re-branded its R&D division – shaking up their business models to account for EV production. (…)
[Branson over zijn elektrische race-activiteiten:] Branson claimed that Formula E – an all-electric racing championship event – is “pushing boundaries forward” to the extent that by 2030 all vehicles on the road could be electric. “What we’re doing with these race cars is pushing the technology forward so that road cars one day will be able to go hundreds of miles without having to recharge their batteries.” (…)
If Branson’s prediction seems slightly too optimistic, it shouldn’t detract from the work that the billionaire has done to encourage low-carbon and renewable uptake. He helped form an environmental coalition of 22 business leaders including Unilever’s Paul Polman, which has constantly called for “actionable” global net-zero commitments by 2050. (…)’
Edie.net, 11 juli 2016: Every car on the road will be electric within 15 years, says Richard Branson
Door Edie aangehaald cijfermateriaal
Bloomberg New Energy Finance
FluxEnergie, 27 februari 2016: ‘Opkomst elektrische auto wordt volgende oliecrisis’


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Nevada appliance rebate funds depleted
(AP) – A $2.5 million pot of federal stimulus money to help Nevadans buy energy-efficient appliances has been snatched up in a little less than two weeks.
But a spokesman for the state energy office said Thursday that residents who missed out can still sign up in case others who reserved rebates don’t follow through with a purchase.
“For that reason, we’re encouraging as many people as possible to sign up for a waiting list,” said Sean Sever, outreach coordinator for the Nevada State Office of Energy. Applicants can sign up at http://www.nevadaappliancerebate.com or by calling 1-877-273-6213.
Nevada launched its program at 12:01 a.m. April 17. By Thursday morning, all available money was reserved. Compared with other states, Nevadans were slow to take advantage of the rebates funded with $300 million nationwide from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Texas and Florida launched their programs earlier this month, and each burned through its allotment of vouchers in less than two days. In Massachusetts, a rush of participants for the first-come, first-served vouchers crashed a computer server, then drained the program of all its funding in 21⁄2 hours.
The government’s cash for appliances program, which offers Nevada households up to $600 in savings on Energy Star products, is aimed at helping the environment while giving a boost to local retailers.
Nevada’s program provides rebates of $200 for refrigerators, $150 for freezers and washing machines and $100 for dishwashers. Appliances must replace older, existing ones, and the program allows for one rebate per appliance for a particular address.
Reserving a rebate is the first step. After a confirmation is received, an applicant has 14 days to buy an eligible product from a participating retailer. Participants also must submit proof that the older appliance was properly disposed of before rebates are issued.